Nikolay Chernyshevsky

Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky (12 July 1828-17 October 1889) was a leader of the Russian revolutionary democratic movement during the 1860s.

Biography
Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky was born on 12 July 1828 in Saratov, Russian Empire, the son of an Orthodox Christian priest. He learnt several languages while studying at a seminary, but he became an atheist after the death of one of his close friends. In 1850, he graduated from St. Petersburg University, and he became an editor of the popular Sovremennik magazine. He was arrested for his socialist political beliefs by the czarist government, and he wrote What Is To Be Done? while he was in prison in 1863. From 1864 to 1872, he was forced into penal servitude, and he was exiled to Vilyuisk in Siberia until 1883. He died in his hometown of Saratov in 1889.